I love a good sale!!!!

Have you ever heard of the Filene's Basement Bridal event? It's where hundreds of designer bridal gowns are marked down to ridiculous prices and soon to be brides, camp out and rush the store at like 6:30 in the morning.

Thursday was suppose to be a big day in Chatham, where 3 upscale stores put all their "old" merchandise on sale. When I say "sale", I mean BIG TIME SALE. They even have the sale in a vacant store front. It was called B.A.D.A. (Bad Ass Discount something).
See the golden tickets around the sign? Those were given to their best customers or some local store owners. Are you seeing an eerie resemblance to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? The Golden Ticket owners were allowed to cut the line and go in whenever they wanted. I think they got to try stuff on, too. That was not for the average folk.

We got there at 12 on Thursday when it was suppose to start and because it was raining, the sale was postponed to the next day at 10. (I have no idea, what it had to do with rain, but whatever!!!!). We (B,K and me) show up at 10 on Fri. to this line....

And the smart thing (?) we got into it. There had been people waiting there since before 8 am to get into this sale! As I found out in line, it is a once every 2 year sale. The group that they cater to is teens/twenties who are a size 4. What the heck was I doing in this line you ask? K, really, really, really wanted to go because she L.O.V.E.S. one of the stores and I am a nice mom and a sucker for a sale. There were instructions when the store opened.... (and some girl yelled these out to the crowd)....

NO TRYING ON
NO HAGGLING
NO RETURNS
CASH ONLY
BE NICE

A friend of mine and her daughter happened to be infront of us. So we bantered back and forth for 1 1/2 hours before we got into the store. As we got closer, the tension grew! We saw girls coming out of the store with armfuls of clothes. We soon realized that the idea was to grab as much as you could inside and bring it outside (where one could breathe) to decide on what you wanted.

There were cars draped in quilts so you could lay your purchases on the hood, etc and decide. Oh and did I mention it was HOTTTTT?! Yeah. Hot. Oh and No. Airconditioning. In. Store. It was basically insane.
When it was our turn, the girls were giddy and we skipped in. The store was suffering hot and full of sale driven women (and even some kids under 10!!). There was nothing in the store that was over $50. The jewelry was $1, the bags were $5, the sunglasses were $1, it was crazy. The dresses ranged in price from $5-$50. The only brand name that I recognized was Juicy cuiture. (Bascically, the brands they had are not found at Target). I headed straight to the jewelry table because I knew I could afford it and fit into it. It did not disappoint, I got $2o worth! The girls found some cute dresses for $5-10 a piece. The daughter of the friend in front of us in line, almost fainted from heat at the end. Yes, it was that overwhelming.

We laughed at our bargains and were giddy for hours after. Then K said the dreaded sentence....
"I want to go back tomorrow and get there at 8 am".
Oy.

And remember the fact that I am a good mom who REALLY enjoys a bargain? We got there at 8:30 and were 15th in line (with our lawn chairs, Dunkin Donuts and books). Yup, that meant that we got in in the first wave of shoppers at 10. We knew what we were doing and had a game plan that would have made the New England Patriots jealous (sorry Mrs. 4444s). I got a little carried away and thought a few of these junior sizes would look good on me, HAHAHAHA.

In 2 years, I will fully stick to the jewelry and bag tables!

Friday Fragments

It's Friday and time for Friday Fragments! Thanks to Mrs. 4444's, for starting the tradition and giving me a place to stick some random thoughts and happenings.

*Does this look like a stressed out dog to you?
How about now?
Yes, my dog was diagnosed with an ulcer this week. WTF? She has the run of the house. Maybe it's the goat at the barn that is causing her angst?

*K was in a horse show last weekend and won 6 or so ribbons. Doesn't she look so grown-up in her horse duds?
*With the anniversary of Woodstock this week, there was an article in our local paper about some locals that went to Woodstock. K only heard Mrs. MacPherson's name and Woodstock and said, "Mrs. M played Woodstock?" She was thinking of Snoopy's friend, Woodstock. Guess I need to broaden her horizons.

*A wonderful package arrived in the mail yesterday because I was one of the winners in the Wonderful World of Wieners fundraising give away! Hallie has done a wonderful job raising over $5000 for organ donation! And she has about 25 days of giveaways to go with it! Here's what I won...
Fabulous!

*B just said to me, "If I have to give up a sport, then you should have to give up one of your networking tools (as in Blog, FB, Twitter). " Sorry kid. I am the adult and what else am I suppose to do all day while you are in school? Work?
Just so you know I am not being mean making her give up something, she is on the jump rope team (3xs a week), sings (1-2xs a week), swims (1-2xs a week) and plays soccer (2-3xs a week), oh and then there is school, homework and she wants to take drama after school. Something has got to go or she has to figure out how to add a few more days into the week.

Happy Friday!!!!

Tragedy in the Woods

A few weeks ago, a 62 year old woman went for a trail ride with her family from our barn. The barn does trail rides all the time. Usually one of the teen girls lead the ride with Matt or V, the barn boss, picking up the rear. They walk through a lot of protected land between 2 towns. People love them!

Unfortunately, tragedy struck this one day when the horse behind the woman's horse stepped on it's hoof, or nipped at it or something. Whatever happened, the horse bolted with the woman and the woman clipped a tree and died. Pure accident. Pure nightmare for all who witnessed it. Pure sadness all around.

When I was in grad school, I lived at home during the week and at the Cape on weekends. I came home from class one night to find a note on the counter from my dad that said something to the effect of "MJ is dead. At the L's house. Come over." How I got into my car and drove the 1/2 mile to their house, I don't know. All I remember is walking into the house, seeing the siblings and cousins sitting in one room, the dad in the hallway, the mom sitting at the kitchen table with friends and my parents. It was surreal and I was crying asking them if it was really true and pretty much being hysterical. My parents brought me into the living room, sat me down and gave me something very strong.

Evidently, MJ (16) had been skiing that afternoon with his school team at Waterville Valley, NH. All of us grew up racing for Waterville and skiing all the time. He had his helmet on, he was an expert skier and he just happened to catch an edge and fly backwards into the woods where he hit the back of his neck on a tree. He died instantly. It sucked. I was 7 years older than MJ, but I would always tease him that I was going to marry him when he got older. He was a great kid, with a beautiful smile and the nicest blue eyes.

So, of course, anytime someone dies from an accident, it always brings me back to the night of MJ. What this all has taught me is that life is short. You get one chance at life and you better do the things that you love and appreciate them. When it is your time, it's your time. I tried to explain this to the girls after the barn accident. Basically I told them that it was important to see the glass as half full and live and appreciate life and try to learn lessons from life's tragedies even though the lessons aren't often obvious.

Maybe tragedies are just a reminder that life is precious.

Notable Quoteable

Phew, I am back from the woods of Maine where there was no internet service. It was painful to not have internet. I don't even have it on my phone. You are feeling my pain, right? Anyway, I have lots to tell and pictures to share, but I need to 'tame the beast' first. The beast would be the mess of my house and the laundry that has finally arrived via Pony Express from Blogher. I did want to leave you with the best quote that a friend of mine's 4 year old conjured up while we were in Maine.

"Mommy, who created people? God or Barack Obama?"

Friday Fragments

Thanks to Mrs. 4444 over at Half Past Kissing Time, I am offering you my version of Friday Fragments. This is an opportunity to post some thoughts that may or may not be complete.

*I have road tested a few of my free products from Blogher today. Yay to my new Dove deodorant, my Mary Kay lip gloss, my Suave thickening spray for my hair, eos shave cream and my mascara from Lacura. 

*A friend of mine was doing an art show on her fish pier yesterday. She had pictures hanging everywhere. It was a very cool effect!

*I of course had to take some pictures of my mom and B who were hanging with me.

* I am a little worried about being in Maine next week because I won't have inhome wi-fi. I have decided that I am addicted to my computer and may go through withdrawal if I can only get on for 5 minutes a day.

*If you are on Cape Cod, you may want to go to Consigning Women in Harwich. My mother-in-law and a friend are painting furniture and making fun pillows to go on the furniture. I saw them today and was very impressed! Hmmm, which piece should I put on my Christmas list?

*Happy Weekend!!!!

A Nikon Fairytale

Once upon a time, there were 2 girls at a Blog convention in Chicago. Both of these girls were big fans of Carson Kressley. One enjoyed watching him in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and one enjoyed watching him in the show that made average or plump women be proud of themselves in their own skin. What made their journey to see Carson even better was the fact that Nikon was sponsoring him.

These girls were VERY excited and decided they needed to be the first in line even though they would be partying with Carson later that evening. While they were standing there, a strapping young man sauntered over and inquired as to who this Carson dude was. The girl known as CapeCodSue said, "Duh, he was in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and he was one of the 'queer guys'. "

Gary waited a beat and then said, "Really?" Which was a polite way for saying "no way you silly blond girl. I worship him too!"

CapeCodSue, MelisaWithOneS and Gary had a good laugh over that. CCSue told Gary that she was in the market for a gay BFF and wondered if he had room in his little black book for her info. It was true love when Gary called CCSue his "fag hag".

Quite a crowd had turned out by the time Carson walked into the room. Even though, a short, blond bitch wormed her way in front of CCSue and MelisaWOS, Carson said,
He was wearing some very sweet pants. Gary was so excited about the whole experience, he did a little happy dance!

CCSue was so happy to hear that Carson was coming to visit Provincetown the next week, that she invited him over for lobster.


As if that wasn't enough, later that evening (after getting all dolled up), CCSue and MelisaWOS were whisked away to the Nikon party.

No, they didn't go in a

they went in style!
There was serious fun and pampering to be had at this party. There were delicious drinks

back massages....
makeup to be done for the makeup challenged....
and chocolate fountains.
The king of the joint was there looking very suave and debonnaire. Gone were the casual flowery pants of the afternoon.

King Carson was very kind and patient with 100 female blog crazy women trying to get their picture with him. Of course, CCSue and MelisaWOS were his favorite crazy blogger women. He even gave them tiaras.
The End or perhaps To Be Continued if Carson and Nikon team up at Blogher 10 in NYC!!!

P.S. To see Melisa's version of this event, go here!

The Recap of Blogher 09

My top 10 things of Blogher09 (in no particular order)

1. Learning how to eat a kiwi with a "spife".
This was one of the best pieces of swag I could have brought home. My family was amazed by the ingenuity. Yeah, I know, it doesn't take much to impress us.

2. Chicago Pizza
Deep dish pizza with "ingredients", not "toppings".
3. A store that sells cookie dough. Yeah, that's right: raw cookie dough (with no eggs!) Hmm, I am seeing a food theme here....
4. A party where it was ok to wear a bag on your head. I was impressed with some people's bag hat ingenuity.

Me and Colleen (wineplz)
5. My fabulous roomie/friend who opened up her house to a bunch of us. She is even more delightful in person than on her blog (if you can believe that!).

Melisa (with ONE s)

6. The "seaman" party in room L. It was a late night blockbuster!
7. Gary. He called my his "fag hag" and it was instantaneous bffs from then on. Can't wait to take him up to Ptown some day!

8. Swag. Unbelievable amounts of swag. OK, so much swag that I mailed home my dirty laundry via the Postal service and filled my suitcase with the free gifts I brought home to share with my family. Who knew all I really had to bring them home were spifes?!
9. The fabulous bloggers that I got to meet in real life! It was such a relief to my family that they were not inter. predat. and so great to see that they were as honest, funny and beautiful as they come across on their blogs.

Colleen and me

Michelle, WeaselBarb, Melisa

WeaselBarb, me, Michelle

Me with Vodka Mom

Heather, Liz, Melisa
Dawn, Me, Manic Mommy
Melisa, Me and WeaselBarb in front of the WienerMobile!
Mrs. 4444 and Tara
10. The fantastic city of Chicago! We snuck out one morning to see Millenium Park where they had big picture walls that squirted water, the magic bean, and yoga in the park. And Navy Pier looked so cool from the 32nd floor of the Sheraton.


Next year, I hope to find myself at Blogher10 in NYC. It is the first weekend in August if anyone is interested!